Halloween Excursion to La Crosse IN 10-30-2010

Never a more perfect day and evening for an excursion to LC. Over 100 riders enjoyed
the train ride and the animal program at La Crosse. The kids were thrilled by all the
wonderful showing of animals, skunk, owl, bull frog, big dog. Don't worry the skunk
is as calm as a kitty cat. Train left at 4:15pm and arrived in LC still in daylight, but as
the time flew by, it was getting darker by the minute. The engine crew even spooked
a 6 point buck up and across the tracks, narrowly missing it by a foot with the locomotive.
Coming into North Judson all the railroad signals lighted up and looked ever so nice.
After disbarking the cabooses, the crowd dispersed and all that was left was the locomotive
shining its headlights down the track off the sides of the railroad cars and the signals.
Rarely is this event seen at HVRM. Lots of hard work put in by Loretta an Pat to put this
all together. All the train crew and the car hosts were much appreciated.
 
Now that the excursion season is over, its back to traditional grunt work at the museum.
Car 899 had the east end wire wheeled and primed yesterday. Track work continued on
the Erie main with the air compressor and tamping ballast where Mark had installed new
ties. Some new stone put down on the driveway to help fill up the pot holes. Matt
the signalman and the crane with man cage, replaced some bulbs in the signals on
the east end of the Erie. The Pennsy flat car was moved out to help pulled out the
C&O 2789 tender from the the locomotive. Tender was put down on the east end of the
yard. Grasseli's tower name is now back up on the stairs. Tower gets a little more paint
each week. 
 
Lunch was highlighted by a nice birthday cake for Les Beckman who is a young "70". Les's
mother turned 96 a week ago, way to go girl.
 
Elections are coming up in January, VP, Sec, Board member, sign up is in the kitchen car
to get your name on the ballot.
 
Board meeting is next Saturday morning, 8am in the depot. Have a good week, drive safe.

Rain, rain, go away!...at HVRM 10-23-10

Greetings!   Day dawned cloudy with a 70% chance of rain in the forecast.   Train crew pulled out one of the storage tank cars and put it on the interchange track.  Now down to an even 10 storage cars.   Craig Rohrer had reported earlier in the week that the Chesapeake & Indiana crew had brought in a TTX flatcar and two tank cars.  The TTX flat is the museums which had been loaned to the C&I for trackwork.  Turned out that the two tank cars that came in are actually C&I cars also, and not new storage cars.  Those two cars were put out on the C&I line near the museums "advertising" Model 40 alongside state route 10/39.   I opened up the 899 passenger car so that Bob Jachim could look at a damaged window.  I took off the moulding on a different window so Bob could measure that one, so he can make a replacement window.  Tom Travis had put coach green paint on a part of the lower portion of the 899 this past Thursday and I got a number of "thumbs up" for his work.  Thanks Tom!  Since rain was in the forecast, I decided not to even try to do any additional painting, closed the car up again and then volunteered as a car host for the three scheduled pumpkin trains.   The rain started lightly before the 11:00 train to English Lake left, but many folks remained out on the GTW transfer caboose platforms.  During the run out to the "pumpkin patch" located next to the Erie North Judson Trail, the rain picked up but it did not deter the 96 riders from picking out pumpkins.  During lunch, the rain really started coming down and by the time the 1:30 train to LaCrosse was ready to leave, there was a real downpour.  Still, 104 passengers made the trip to LaCrosse. Most stayed on the train during the wying of Alco 310 and on the way back to North Judson, the rain slowly let up.  By the time this train got to the "patch", the rain was almost non-existant.  During the layover between the second and third trains, the rain completely stopped and the sun actually peeked out.  The 4:30 train to English Lake was the best weather wise, and another 65 made this trip.  Loretta Kosloske ended up with only a few extra pumpkins.  A total of 265 riders; a great passenger carrying day for Hoosier Valley!   The rain put a damper on most other activities, but John LaOrange, Cory Bennett and Mark Knebel did manage to get some new ties put in out on the old Erie line next to the Trail.   I am not sure if the weather permitted Steve Newland and Joe Baker to get any work done on Grasselli Tower.   Loretta, Bob Barcus, Andy Roeske, Margrett Cook, Pat DeGan and Judy Boyer ably managed ticket sales and the gift shop in the depot.  They were busy much of the day.  Train crew was rotated between John DeGan, Fred Boyer and Doug Kosloske, with each getting time in the engineers seat, as fireman and as conductor.  Mark Anderson served time as apprentice conductor.  Car hosting besides yours truly, included Joe and Louise Kingsbury, Bill Dauber, Tom McKee and Randall Downs.  Elmer Mannen provided crossings protection for the 11:00 run to English Lake while Mark Knebel did the honors for the 4:30 trip.   Good to see Chuck Ness at the museum today.  I probably missed mentioning a few folks.   Enjoy the coming week everyone.   Les

HVRM 16 October 2010

Yet another beautiful day in North Judson. Warm sun, nice breeze, good train ridership.
 
Thursday me and Les, worked on the D&RG 899 passenger car. Did more grinding on
the roof and completed the entire lenght of the car. Now ready for black paint on roof
and pullman green on the sides. I will be going down Thursday/Friday to work on
899 or REA trailer if weather is decent. Saturday I will not be avail to work.
 
First job was to put seats down in the GTW caboose. I had a change of plans, went to
Toto, WA9KRT's house for a crane to take down his old 2 meter EME array, get it on
the ground so he can rework it into 70 CM EME array. The crane took quick work of
lowering the boom, only one problem with a U bolt snagging on tower. K9MRI Joe from
Ft Wayne came over to watch also and retreive his prop pitch rotator that Don's son
rebuilt. Joe is off the air due to a failure of his boom is now a V shape, due to equipment
failure. After a nice lunch at Richards in Toto with everyone, it was back to North Judson.
 
Les had completed putting the brackets behind the seats to secure them from moving and
squeezing fingers. We now only have one inside coach seat to install and one outside
coach seat to reinstall on the platform. With only 2 more Saturdays of the Pumpkin trains
all the seats will be filled.  It got too close to train time so we cleaned up the cab
and headed to other projects.
 
Good train ridership, over 117 riders to La Crosse. Dave Cook had gone earlier in the
day to help the C&I move a grain train out of La Crosse to clear up the wye for the
tourist train to wye. Cory worked the ballast pile on the west side of the tracks to
smooth it down with the payloader. No work on the roof sealing on the east shop.
 
Grasseli tower got some sanding, filling nail holes and priming. Steve Newland and
helper.
 
Mike Kohler worked on the LIRR coach car sanding down bondo. Fred Boyer had
worked earlier in the day sanding.
 
Mark Kniebel loaded up 2 new ties and went down the Erie main and replaced 2
junk ties
 
I went down to the west shop and worked on wire wheeling the sides of the REA trailer
and did some paint priming. I found a ladder with flat steps and a platform at the top
to stand on, made work much easier on the feet. Last week I took the REA signs over
to a car painter friend, he suggested using Rustoleum spray paint on the areas  that
need repainting. I will start on the back sides first and paint them black with a couple
of coats of paint. The big diamond signs need the red repainted. The longer signs
will just have to be touched up with one shot paint. I will clear coat all the signs
when done. Remounting the signs will have a piece of thick rubber between the sign
and walls to prevent rusting on the walls.
 
Les worked on 899's vestibule door priming it.
 
Two pumpkin trains next weekend, and one more on the 30th, a twilight run. Should be
fun. Most are filled with pre resgistration tickets.
 
Have a safe week, drive carefully

FW: Thursday 10/14/10 at HVRM

Greetings!   Cool, windy day (low 60's).  Workers today:   Steve Newland - Grasselli Tower   Mark Knebel - Tie work   Tom Travis and Les Beckman - coach 899   Fred Boyer -  LIRR coach 2937

Super Day At HVRM, Record Crowds, Record Heat 10-09-10

Just a perfect day at HVRM. Temp in the high 80's, no clouds, no humidity, good day
for the pumpkin trains. Both trains were near capacity or sold out. Only change was
that pumpkins were at the North Judson train/trail park. Early switching of the tank
cars to the interchange track opened up the Erie line. After moving the tank car
a run to the highway crossing was made to make sure that the signal would work,
they did. So back to the waiting caboose train. Could of been a little close to train
time as the platforms were packed and people were everywhere. Don't have counts on
train riders or number of pumpkins sold at the park. No problems noted at the park
with unloading/loading. Riders quickly boarded and were off to English Lake, then returned
to the Erie line and was nice to see the train head on down the old Erie line. Some extra
mileage. I'm not sure if the crews got a chance to eat lunch, as I had already moved on to
my next project.
 
Arriving at 8AM, I went directly to the GTW caboose to work on the final seats inside
the car. As I had the lag bolts I needed to get it done, but of course miscounted and
still need more. Blocks of wood that were made last week was quickly attached to the
seat legs, holes drill for the floor, but I used screws, that will be changed to bolts later
when one person can go under the car and put the lock washer and nut on while the
person inside tightens the bolt. The remaining seat and double seat were put in
and the back cushions were attached to the seat frame, with the brackets behind the
cushions installed later. I swept the car, gathered up my tools and waited till the train
was at the platform to unload. It was a mad rush to get my stuff off the steps before
the riders boarded. Many happy riders were on the outside platform seats.
 
Tower work continued with filling nail holes, sanding, then painting more boards. Steve
had a helper today.
 
Dave and Cory worked on the east building roof installing the sealant till it got too hot
to work.
 
Les, on Thursday worked some more on the 899, getting another section primed.
Bob J was asked about the window, but was too busy with getting things ready to
look at it.
 
Mostly all the regulars, plus wives were car hosts for the trips. Dan Siple was spotted
in the depot with Dee buying tickets for the train, looks good.
 
I continued on the REA trailer after lunch, slow going around all the locomotive
parts all over the ground. I did get the last big REA diamond off the side of the
trailer. I stood on the ladder till my feet went to sleep, so that was it for the day.
Got a lot of grinding done, at my expense. I have a new scaffold that I will try out next
week. Side doors, hinges are rusted solid. Only way to get doors off is to drill out the
heads. Cory did help get the rear door up, so I could squeeze in if I needed too. Will
get a track jack next week to jack it up further. Got to get those springs hooked back
up.
 
Next week I will head over to a car painter and ask him how to restore the REA signs.
Paint is faded badly, but the surface is in good shape. Have all winter to work on
that project. Nothing special to do on the roof, but put the aluminum trailer paint on
to seal it up.
 
Beautiful working weather, won't last, snow will soon be on the ground. Have a good
week, be careful on the roads. Stop Look & Listen at all railroad tracks. A grain truck
driver was killed by a NS train in Starke county this past week after he did not stop to
check for trains. Will never know why he crossed in front of the train. Sad

10-05-2010 HVRM Extra Workday

Beautiful day at North Judson. Both me and Les arrived at the same time at the passenger
car. Took a while to get started. Les went to get the manlift, I got the electric cords
out and plugged in for the wire grinder. Took Les a while to get the manlift
started and running, finally coming up along the south side of the DRGW passenger car.
 
Work commenced and got into a routine of grinding an area, with Les priming that
area. Got over half the upper area of the car completed. When we quit for the day,
went down to the GTW caboose and  bolted seats to the floor. 2 seats remain to
be installed. The outside coach seat needs to be put back on the grating also.
Ran down to the shop and quickly made blocks for the seats that are too short
to reach the floor.
 
Jason and Josh were working on the GE and the LIRR passenger .
 
That the news from Here..............
 
Tom Travis HVRM North Judson IN

Cool Day at HVRM 8-2-10

Fall is in the air, litteraly. Up till last night, many farmers worked late to combine beans
or corn. Today was a day of rest for some. Rain curtailed their work. Cool conditions
most of the day and towards later part of afternoon, it started to rain again. Time to
call it quits for the day.
 
Start off with the bad news, 3 UTLX tank cars were switched out of the storage track
and put on the interchange.
 
I don't know if a board meeting was held or not, I arrived late and went to work immediately
on the GTW seats. I dumped every bucket, bag, carton of bolts and nuts to find what I
needed and could not find any lag bolts. So spent considerable time in trying to sort nuts and
bolts, then down to hardware store to buy what I needed. Stopped at Garys R's house
and spent too much time, so got back to caboose, it was 12:30pm. I got one seat back
on and the brackets to hold the back on. Started on the 2nd seat and did not make it,
train was leaving and I needed to get off. Locked up caboose and left for the shop area.
 
Back to the REA trailer. I started to remove the REA signs and did quite well on that, cept
when the grinding wheel wore out. Got all off except for one large REA diamond. It can
wait till Tuesday. Loaded them all in the van and will work on them at home. Did some
wire wheel grinding on the new rust. Want to get the side doors off and transport home
to build some new ones. Lots of hardware to remove on the outside of them. Quit finally
about 4:30pm.
 
Other activity, ridership on the 1:30pm train to La Crosse was good, over 60 plus.
At the station stop in LC, lots of people headed to the cabooses off the open air cars.
The wye must of been fouled, as Erie 310 pushed the train back to NJ. Crew was Elmer M,
Doug K, John LaO. Don't know who was conductor, as so many people were car hosts.
 
 
LIRR passenger was getting some attention by Mike K, doing bondo on the sides and
roof. Jason A, Steve N were also inside working on car. The GE was fired up and used
to push passenger car back into west shop, GE's engine sounds good.
 
Tuesday is a work day for me and Les at the museum, many projects to work on,
GTW seats, REA trailer sign, D&RGW 899 passenger car, repaint. Will bring generator
for power tools and maybe can progress faster. Will also bring 2 ladders so we can
put a plank along the side to work off of it. Unless the manlift is available.
 
Pumpkin trains are filling up with advance ticket sales, looks good.
 
Have a safe week everybody.
 
Tom HVRM Restoration

Fixing up D&RGW 899

Les has been working on his car getting it ready for paint. Has worked on the south side
a couple of day in the past 2 weeks. Wire brushing and some priming going on.
A window on the south side needs to be taken out and rebuilt and reinstalled sometime.
 
Tuesday of next week, OCT 5th I will be down all day working on various projects. No school.
October 21/22 will also be no school days. Will be gone the 23rd on bus charter to INDY.
 
Come on out to work on railway equipment.